How many hooks do your videos have on average?
Opening strong stops the scroll but it’s just the beginning.
What’s even more important is to recapture the attention of your viewers so they stay with you till the end.
Many people don’t know that I went to film school.
I studied the biggest masters of storytelling and how they make you glued to the screen for hours.
And what’s stuck with me is that every single one of the films in the past 50 years uses the same three-act structure.
Horror, sci-fi, romance, it doesn’t matter.
Top filmmakers like Steven Spielberg don’t reinvent the wheel because they know it works.
Instead, they master the nuances of their format so they can tell new stories with it.
Now, the idea is the same on social media.
Except, normally, you need to raise the stakes within your storytelling in a much more condensed time frame.
For short-form videos, that’s about a few seconds to a few minutes.
So let’s look at a creator who mastered plot twists within a minute, his name is Daniel Wall.
In his narration of untold stories, you often notice him building tension with simple phrases like…
- “But why am I telling you this?”
- “So what do they do?”
- “But it gets even crazier…”
He keeps you hooked with big BUTs, i.e. twists that take his stories to a whole new level.
Another creator, Alex Stemp (https://www.tiktok.com/@alex.stemp), asks people on the street if he can photograph them.
BUT there’s always a caveat.
Sometimes it’s hard to convince someone to participate in a crazy concept.
Other times, he has unexpected conditions like giving away the outfit they’re wearing.
And some videos don’t even reveal the resolution of the story in the end.
Instead, they tease a part two—in this case, only seeing the back of their much-awaited protagonist.
Ever felt stirred up by a cliffhanger at the end of your favorite show?
That’s exactly what Alex does by building anticipation with a final twist and making you come back for more.
So no matter what stories you tell, practice raising the stakes and they will hit even harder.
I’ll be back next week to talk about MrBeast’s leaked viral blueprint.
Till then, if you need help taking your videos viral, feel free to speak to my team.
Want help with your social media strategy? Connect 1-on-1 with my team here to see if we are the right fit to work together.